RESILIENCE

I have spent many years working and operating in hostile, stressful and challenging environments. I’m not Sir Ranulph Fiennes by any means and I reckon Bear Grylls would beat me at a tree house building competition but it doesn’t mean that I don’t practise resilience on a daily basis. You may question what resilience looks like for you and your organisation but one thing will be true, it will be different for each of us.

The ritual of waking up each morning and accepting that, what will be will be, and I need to find opportunity and convert it to keep the business running, that life is sometimes unfair and that the chocolate twists have run out AGAIN! at Costa Coffee. Whilst I don’t see myself as having difficulties or unpassable challenges it still means I have to be resilient to change and emotionally prepared to deal with that, chocolate twist or no chocolate twist!

Resilience is crucial for businesses and organisations too, especially in times of  VUCA (as in NOW). LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is an effective tool that can be used to facilitate resilience, or at least start the development of it, within a company.

I am a firm believer that teaching resilience in lieu of removing or reducing the stressors is a bad business decision, but we have to acknowledge some stressors are here to stay and we should be in a positive state of mind that allows us to accept them and move forward with a plan of attack.

Here are some ways you can use LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® to build resilience in your organisation:

Exploring Emotions: The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology can be used to explore the emotions and feelings experienced by your team. By building models using LEGO® bricks, participants can express their emotions and their reaction to different situations. This can help them to develop a deeper understanding of their emotions and to find ways of coping with difficult situations.

Visualising Scenarios: LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can help team members to visualise various scenarios and develop strategies for dealing with them. We don’t use magic here, we actually use a local fortune teller. Only joking. By building LEGO models of different situations, participants can develop a better understanding of how different elements are interconnected, and how best to respond in specific situations. When you can see it in 3D you can look at it from many angles.

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses: LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business or organisation. By building models of different aspects or agents of the company, team or brand participants can better understand the company’s strengths and weaknesses and develop strategies to improve or even steer a course away from danger. We typically work in the ’Now” and then build landscapes from there.

Fostering Collaboration: LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a collaborative process that encourages team members to work together and contribute equally. This builds trust and promotes teamwork, increasing the resilience of the organisation in the face of new or existing challenges. Teams that build together stay together (probably)

Encouraging Innovation: The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology encourages participants to think differently and develop innovative solutions to problems. This can help companies to adapt to changes and challenges, increasing their resilience. We can help you recognise what sort of imagination your teams work with so businesses can empower their teams.

Improving communication: The use of LEGO® bricks in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshops provides a visual and tactile language that can help participants communicate more effectively. The act of building models also helps individuals to articulate their thoughts and feelings in a non-threatening way. We can answer with our hands and listen with our eyes. (clever hey!)

Building confidence: LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can be a confidence-building tool, as participants are encouraged to express their ideas and thoughts in a safe and supportive environment. This can help to build self-esteem and resilience in individuals, which can be transferred to other areas of their lives. When we share we focus on the models and we only allow questions about the models so no one is challenged directly. Unless they take the last donut and the gloves are off.

This article has explored how LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® can be used as a tool for building resilience in individuals and teams.